# Induction therapy

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/induction-therapy/  
OnCo record `induction-therapy` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The first, most intensive block of treatment, intended to knock the cancer into remission. In leukaemia it is the hospital stay that clears the marrow; in solid tumours it is chemotherapy given before definitive local treatment.

## Summary

In acute leukaemia, induction (7+3 cytarabine-anthracycline in AML, multi-agent chemotherapy in ALL) aims for a complete remission and is followed by consolidation and sometimes maintenance or transplant; failure to achieve remission ('primary refractory') is the worst prognostic sign. In myeloma, quadruplet induction precedes autologous transplant. In head and neck and nasopharyngeal cancer, induction chemotherapy before chemoradiation improves survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (gemcitabine-cisplatin) but not consistently elsewhere. The term overlaps with 'neoadjuvant' when surgery follows.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: induction; induction chemotherapy; induction regimen; remission induction; re-induction; reinduction; induction failure; primary refractory; induction regimens

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_chemotherapy
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_chemotherapy

## Connected records

- terms: [7+3 induction chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/terms/seven-plus-three/), [Complete response (CR) and partial response (PR)](https://onco.cc/terms/complete-response-term/), [Consolidation therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/consolidation-therapy/), [Maintenance therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/maintenance-therapy/)
- cancers: [Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-leukemia/), [Acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml/), [Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/head-and-neck/), [Multiple myeloma](https://onco.cc/cancers/multiple-myeloma/)
- fronts: [Chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/chemotherapy/)

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